Job 25:1--27:23

Bildad’s Third Speech

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

25:2 “Dominion and awesome might belong to God;

he establishes peace in his heights.

25:3 Can his armies be numbered?

On whom does his light not rise?

25:4 How then can a human being be righteous before God?

How can one born of a woman be pure?

25:5 If even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,

25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot –

a son of man, who is only a worm!”

Job’s Reply to Bildad

26:1 Then Job replied:

26:2 “How you have helped the powerless!

How you have saved the person who has no strength!

26:3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,

and abundantly revealed your insight!

26:4 To whom did you utter these words?

And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?

A Better Description of God’s Greatness

26:5 “The dead tremble –

those beneath the waters

and all that live in them.

26:6 The underworld is naked before God;

the place of destruction lies uncovered.

26:7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;

he suspends the earth on nothing.

26:8 He locks the waters in his clouds,

and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.

26:9 He conceals the face of the full moon,

shrouding it with his clouds.

26:10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters

as a boundary between light and darkness.

26:11 The pillars of the heavens tremble

and are amazed at his rebuke.

26:12 By his power he stills the sea;

by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.

26:13 By his breath the skies became fair;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!

How faint is the whisper we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

A Protest of Innocence

27:1 And Job took up his discourse again:

27:2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,

the Almighty, who has made my life bitter –

27:3 for while my spirit is still in me,

and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

27:4 my lips will not speak wickedness,

and my tongue will whisper no deceit.

27:5 I will never declare that you three are in the right;

until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!

27:6 I will maintain my righteousness

and never let it go;

my conscience will not reproach me

for as long as I live.

The Condition of the Wicked

27:7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,

my adversary like the unrighteous.

27:8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,

when God takes away his life?

27:9 Does God listen to his cry

when distress overtakes him?

27:10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?

Will he call out to God at all times?

27:11 I will teach you about the power of God;

What is on the Almighty’s mind I will not conceal.

27:12 If you yourselves have all seen this,

Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?

27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man

allotted by God,

the inheritance that evildoers receive

from the Almighty.

27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword!

His offspring never have enough to eat.

27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,

and their widows do not mourn for them.

27:16 If he piles up silver like dust

and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,

27:17 what he stores up a righteous man will wear,

and an innocent man will inherit his silver.

27:18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,

like a hut that a watchman has made.

27:19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.

When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.

27:20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;

at night a whirlwind carries him off.

27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;

it sweeps him out of his place.

27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity

as he flees headlong from its power.

27:23 It claps its hands at him in derision

and hisses him away from his place.